1000 pts United Aelf army project [need help with battleline selection]

[Ciruelo]

Helly everyone,

I am about to start my first army in Age of Sigmar and I would like to build an united aelf army taking at least one unit from each of the three factions (dark, high and wood)

The first problem comes when picking the 2 battleline units and the first though was 2 Glade Guards but, unless you have 20+  models in the unit they are quite useless for a 120pts unit IMO. Yeah, their -3 rend can be useful if you have a good roll but lets suppose you get 5 wounds in a 20 models unit all in a high armored unit so they are like 5 almost mortal wounds per game, for a 240 unit... I find it quite pricey. And you have to pick 2 units of them at least, so it's going to take out almost half of my army points. So taking 20 models per unit is not possible, and with 10 models per unit I shoudln't expect to get more than 2 wounds in the -3 rend turn per unit. Again, very overpriced because after that volley, the entire unit is not going to get more than 1 or 2 wounds deal per turn.

But what other options do I have? I can pick a couple of crappy Dreadspears defending a sorceress (and also are good sacrifice meat). That's a crappy option but at least it doesn't cost much. I am not even considering a Bleakswords.

The third option are the Darshards. I know, they have 4 inches less range than a glade guard but except from that, they look a better option in all senses. First, they are 20 points cheaper. Second, they have more save and they can stand fairly well in melee combat (even though you don't want them to be in melee combat, but that seems to happen very often and after all, you can shoot even when engaged). Then, if they are in range, they deal quite more damage than glade guard with that 2 attacks. I can include other units in my army that will be able to take care of far away targets.

I haven't played any AoS battle yet so I would be glad to hear what you have to say.

[Nico]

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The third option are the Darshards. I know, they have 4 inches less range than a glade guard but except from that, they look a better option in all senses. First, they are 20 points cheaper. 

The range makes a huge difference, as it's zero damage versus some damage if you have to take the first turn (compared to movement 6, range 20 bows etc.).

Bleakswords and Dreadspears are surprisingly decent (shame about the rest of the Dark Elf army) as Battleline if you want some chaff/tarpits.

[darkspear]

For 1000 points, I will go with Darkshards.  They have the same saves as the others but get to do more damage more often.

You can get glade guard when you scale up to 2000 points ☺